Safety device for railways.



I. S. CRAWFORD.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I6, I9l5. RENEWED OCT. 26. 1916.

l ,QLQW Patented Ap. 3', 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

ATTORNEY l. S. CRAWFORD.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR RAILWAYS. v

APPLICATION FILED 111111.16. 1915. RENEwEn ocT.26.191e.

LQLGQ., Panted Apr. 3,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ATTORNEY if oni.

SAFETY LDFVICIE FR RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application led March 1G, 1915, Serial No. 14,797. Renewed October 26, 1916. Serial No. 127,829.

To aZZ whom z't may concern:

Be it known that l, JOHN S. CRAWFORD, a citizen of the United States, resident at New London, in the county of New London, in the State of Connecticut,'have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Safety Devices for Railways, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The immediate object of my invention is to provide simple but effective mechanism for setting the brakes, and for simultaneously shutting oil the steam, or electric power as the case may be, in railway trains whenever danger signals are set against'said train; said safety mechanism being, preferably, attached to the locomotive and being adapted to work equally effectually whether the train is running ahead or backward.

My said invention is illustrated in, and

by, the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 1s a side elevation of the several" elementary features of my invention showing thel Fig. 4 is'a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view of the relief valve 57 and test cylinder 53, and Fig. 5 is a similar view of the main supply shut-oit 49. ln the Fig. 6 l have illustrated the engineers reverse lever, partly in section to aid in explaining the means provided for unlatching said lever automatically and simultaneously with the automatic setting of the air brakes. rllhe numeral 45 indicates a compressed air receiver and 46 the train (air) pipe, the said pipe and receiver being connected by a three section-pipe 47, 47a and 47b which includes the engineers valve 48 and what'l term a main supply shut-0H' valve 49 which is normally open to the pipe sections 47 b 472l as seen in the sectional view Fig. 6 and so that air may pass direct from the receiver 45 to the train air pipe 46 whenever the valve 48 is operated by the engineer.

The customary reversing lever is shown at 50 and the customary steam throttle lever and valve rod are shown at 51 and 52 respectively.

The numeral 53 denotes a test cylinder which is connected by a pipe 54 with the pipe section 47b already referred to; said pipe 54 including a handoperable valve 54a by means of which the engineer may connect the compressed air supply in receiver 45 with the test cylinder 53; said test cylinder being shown, enlarged and partly in central, vertical, section in Fig. 4, to which reference is now directed. The test cylinder 53 contains a piston whose rod 53a is rigidly connected to the stem 57, and which, therefore, operates on the admission of pressure thereto by the manual actuation of the valve 54EL to raise the valve block 58 to establish communication between the elements 46b and 63.

The numeral 55 identities an idle roll which is located below the locomotive, in position to be engaged, andI forced upwardly by contact with a cam block 21 which is located between the traction rails and is adapted to be elevated whenever a signal is set against an approaching train. The roll 55 is carried by a substantial frame 56 which is mounted on the lower end of a plunger rod 57 which is slidably mounted in the housing 53a to which the test cylin der 53 is attached and has fixed on its upper end portion a cut-oft valve block 58 which is arranged to slide in a valve housing 59 which extends in a direction at right angles to the plane of movement of the plungerrod 57 and its attached valve-block 58. The train air pipe 46 enters the housing 59 at 462L and is normally cut olf from the chamber or housing 59 by the valve-block 58 as seen inthe said Fig. 4. llVhen, however, the block 58 is forced upward, by reason of the roll 55 contacting with the cam-block the air from the train pipe is permitted to rush into the housing' 59 and, engaging a piston 60, forces said piston and an attached cutoff valve 61 forward against the opposing force of a spring 62. The valve 61 serves as a cut-off between the opposing ends of a branch pipe 46", which connects the train pipe with the housing 59, and a pipe 63 which connects said housing with what I term a control cylinder which is indicated by the numeral 64, the said control cylinder being shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 2 of the annexed drawings. The said control Y 64d vwhich are, respectively, connected with the air pipe 63 by branch pipes 63L and 63h.

The port 640V is normally closed by a spring-pressedvalve 67 and the port 64d is normally closed by a spring-pressed valve 68,:each of the said valves (,67-68) being Vattached toj a rod 69 which carries an idle roll 70.` OneV of said rolls lies in the path of a camblock 71and the other of said rolls lies in the path of a cam block 72, said cani blocks being carriediby a bar, or rod, 73

y which is adapted to slide longitudinally inbracket bearings 74 and is connected to the piston rod 65 by an arm 75 in such manner that, when the piston is moved by the settingof'the reversing lever 50, the cam-bar 73`will be correspondingly moved, and the engagement and disengagement of the cam blocks 71-72 with the Vrolls 70 will result in closing the last opened port 64c or 64d, as-the ycase may be, and the opening of the other of said ports, thus cutting olf the entrance of air at one end of the cylinder64 and admitting airl to said cylinderat the other lend as .will be, understood by reference tothe said Fig. 2. Connected to the control cylinder v64 at or near its opposite ends are pipes V76-77 which lead into the cylinder 78 Qfa relay valve which includes a piston 79, that is slida-bly mounted in said cylinder 78, and leading outward from said cylinder is a pipe 80 which eXtends'rearwai-d to a point near the reverse lever 50, as here illustrated where it is connected, by Aa flexible pipe section 8Oa with a pipe 8Ob that is secured to the reversingk lever and discharges into a cylinder 50a in which is a piston 50b 4that is Secured to the rod 50c which latter serves to latch the lever 50 in its operative position, the arrangement of the described elements being such that the aii` under pressure, entering cylinder 50' will engage the piston 50" and force said piston andthe connected rod 50c longitudinallysufiiciently to release the end of the rod from` engagement withthe notched arc 8l. The pipe 8O is connected bv means of a n1pple1'82 with the main supply 'shut-off valve-49 in such .a manner that, when airis released from the relay valve 78 and passes through the pipe 80, it will engage a 'piston 49a and force the latter rearward, carrying with it a valve 491 and thus closing a port 49Cwhichv connects the'pipe section 47b with thepipe section 47a, thus cutting ofl' the passage of air -from the receiver 45 to the train k pipe -for the `time being or, more properly, to the engineers valve 48 if the p Y latteris'closed.

Having now described generally the prin` cipal elementary features of my safety system, and the way in which they are connected, I will now describe briefly the operation of the same.

Immediately upon the setting of a stop signal against the train the cam-block 21 is elevated to its operative position in the path of the roll carried by the locomotive. Then the said roll contacts with the cam it (the roll) is forced upward carrying with it thc valve-block 58 which permits airl to rush in from'the train pipe 46, thus moving the piston valve 61 and opening pipes 46" and 63 to each other and permitting the air to pass on to the control cylinder 64.

If the reversing lever 50 is set to go ahead, as seen in Fig. 1 the piston 64b in cylinder 64 will be in the position seen in full lines in Fig. 2 and the post 64c will be open thus allowing air to pass through the branch 63, and through said port 64C, and thence on through pipes 76 and 8O to the reversing lever latch-releasing device, as described and, so soon as the said latch is released the air pressure in the control cylinder 64 will force piston 64 rearward and, through the piston rod 65 and the link rod 66, the reverse lever 50 isswung back to its reverse position. Simultaneously with this action the brakes are set in the customary manner by reason of the reduced pressure in the train air pipe, the usual venting action for the train-pipe line to the atmosphere being provided for, although not herein shown.

In order to also, simultaneously, shut olf the steam from the cylinders, assuming that my described system is applied to a steam operated locomotive, I provide a steam-control cylinder 83 in which is a piston 84 whose rod 85 is linked to the throttle lever 51 and I connect the cylinder 83 with the pipe 63 by a pipe 80 as here shown, in such manner that, when my described system is started into action air, under pressure, will pass through the pipe 80 and, engaging the piston`84, will operate to rock the throttle lever 51 and the connected throttle valve rod 52 so as t0 close the throttle and thus shut ofll the steam.

After the air has passed through the relief valve 59 and through the ports of the control cylinder 64 the relief valve will be automatically closed by spring 62. The system can be tested before the train starts by simply opening the test valve 54a by manually actuating the handle thereof which is thought apparent from Fig. 1. If desired a register of any approved type may be provided for the purpose of recording, for future reference the number of signals passed or rather the number of times which the system is actuated by engagement by the roll 55 with the cam block 21.

vBy the adoption of my described system the setting of the brakes automatically is assured if, for any reason, the engineer fails to perform his duty.

Having thus described my invention I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters l atentzl. A safety device of the type described, including an engineers reversing lever, latching means for said lever, means for the retention of said latching means in 0perative position, a compressed air supply means, and means for establishing communication between said latching means and said compressed air supply means, comprising a compressed air chamber arranged upon said engineers reversing lever, said latching means having its rod member equipped with a piston positioned within said compressed air chamber, the resultant piston rod being adapted to provide for direct engagement with said latch retaining means and a tubular air conducting member communicating with said compressed air chamber of said latching means, said tubular air conducting member having a flexible tubular connection with said compressed air supply means.

2. A safety device of the type described, including a compressed air supply, an air receiver in communication therewith, means for controlling the air supply therebetween and means for delivering the air supply, comprising a valve block for controlling the passage of air through said delivery means, a rod connected with said valve block and carrying a shoe engaging member, a piston whose rod is rigid with the aforesaid rod, a pipe communicating with said compressed air supply, and a valve for manually controlling the air supply through said pipe to said piston.

JOHN S. CRAWFRD.

lVitnesses:

FRANK H. ALLEN, BLANCHE C. CHARTIER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 'of Patents Washington, D. C. 

